IBM White Paper Sample

On January 1, 2009, the drug tracking requirements for the State of California go into effect. These rules are designed to protect patients from counterfeit products by validating a drug’s chain of custody – or pedigree – at each step in its distribution. However, unlike other pedigree requirements, which focus on wholesalers, California’s have defined a specific set of responsibilities for pharmaceutical manufacturers. These include:

• The application of a unique serial number to each prescription product
• at the point of manufacture
• on the smallest unit of sale ultimately dispensed by the pharmacy
• utilizing uniform standards recognized by manufacturers, wholesalers and pharmacies